Hostess Golden Frosted Yellow Cupcakes With Creamy Filling

Hostess Brands, LLC · Cakes, Cupcakes, Snack Cakes · barcode 00888109011260

What stands out

From the label
The ingredients list Titanium dioxide, which has stricter rules elsewhere. Strictest: Not allowed in the EU since 2022. Details

Lab testsNo lab has published results for this exact product.
RecallsNo FDA recall lists this barcode.
Additives1 ingredient has stricter rules elsewhere. Strictest: Not allowed in the EU since 2022. Which
TypicalFDA's tests of cakes, cupcakes, snack cakes show what's typical. See levels

Additives with restrictions somewhere

From the ingredient list on file (label data dated 2021-03-19). Recipes change, so check the package you have.

Rules that apply to more than one of these

Texas: Warning label required from 2027-01-01 Labels developed on or after January 1, 2027 must warn that the product contains an ingredient not recommended for consumption in Australia, Canada, the EU or the UK. (SB 25 (2025)) Source. Applies to all of them.

Titanium dioxide (E171)

US (FDA): Allowed FDA allows it as a color additive, up to 1% of the food's weight. Source
EU: Removed from approved list from 2022-08-07 Removed as a food additive in 2022; food made under the old rules could be sold until August 7, 2022. (Regulation (EU) 2022/63) Source

Bleached flour

US (FDA): Allowed FDA allows bleached flour. Source
Louisiana: Warning label required from 2028-01-01 Products containing it must carry a QR code disclosure from January 1, 2028. (SB 14, Act 463 (2025)) Source

Typical for cakes, cupcakes, snack cakes

What FDA found when it bought and tested this kind of food across the US. These are not tests of this product.

Lead: typically 3.9 ppb (FDA, 54 samples, 2017-2020). A toddler reaches FDA's daily limit at about 380 g (13 oz) a day; an adult at about 1.5 kg (3.3 lb).
One serving (2 cakes, 90 g, from the label):
23% of a toddler's daily limit
6% of an adult's daily limit
Cadmium: typically 9.7 ppb (FDA, 54 samples, 2017-2020). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 1.4 kg (3.1 lb) a day; an adult at about 6.4 kg (14 lb).
One serving (2 cakes, 90 g, from the label):
7% of a toddler's daily limit
1% of an adult's daily limit
Arsenic (total): typically 1.9 ppb (FDA, 54 samples, 2017-2020). No US agency limit we can cite.
Perchlorate: typically 1.5 ppb (FDA, 40 samples, 2008-2012). A toddler reaches EPA's daily limit at about 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) a day; an adult at about 21 kg (46 lb).
One serving (2 cakes, 90 g, from the label):
2% of a toddler's daily limit
under 1% of an adult's daily limit
Mercury: usually below 1 ppb, the lab's limit, in FDA's samples.

FDA samples behind these numbers

Lead in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 27 of 27 samples, average 8.92, highest 16 ppb (2017-2020)
Lead in Cake, white with white icing: found in 9 of 27 samples, average 2.56, highest 17 ppb (2017-2020)
Cadmium in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 27 of 27 samples, average 17.6, highest 40 ppb (2017-2020)
Cadmium in Cake, white with white icing: found in 27 of 27 samples, average 4.13, highest 6.4 ppb (2017-2020)
Mercury in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 9 of 27 samples, average 0.45, highest 1.9 ppb (2017-2020)
Mercury in Cake, white with white icing: found in 0 of 27 samples, all below 1 ppb (2017-2020)
Arsenic (total) in Cake, chocolate with chocolate icing: found in 25 of 27 samples, average 3.6, highest 4.6 ppb (2017-2020)
Arsenic (total) in Cake, white with white icing: found in 10 of 27 samples, average 1.72, highest 7.4 ppb (2017-2020)
Perchlorate in Cake, chocolate w/ icing: found in 12 of 20 samples, average 2.76, highest 14 ppb (2008-2012)
Perchlorate in Cake, white w/ icing (formerly yellow cake): found in 12 of 20 samples, average 1.88, highest 9 ppb (2008-2012)

"Typically" is FDA's middle sample. Daily amounts use the long-run average and each chemical's daily limit (EPA reference dose, or FDA's level for lead) for a 33-lb toddler and a 154-lb adult. ppb = micrograms per kilogram of food. Source: FDA Total Diet Study.

Not tested

No published results for this product cover: Metals, Perchlorate, Phthalates (plastic softeners), Phthalate substitutes, Bisphenols. That means nobody has published a test, not that these are absent.

Ingredients (from the label)

SUGAR, WATER, ENRICHED FLOUR (BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE OR REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), PALM OIL, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, TALLOW, CORN SYRUP, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS: SOYBEAN OIL, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, EGG, COCOA, EGG WHITE, CORN STARCH, DEXTROSE, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, NONFAT DRY MILK, SALT, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, HYDROGENATED TALLOW, INULIN, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, CALCIUM SULFATE, BAKING SODA, DEFATTED SOY FLOUR, WHEY, CELLULOSE GUM, SORBIC ACID AND POTASSIUM SORBATE (TO RETAIN FRESHNESS), GUAR GUM, COTTONSEED OIL, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, GLYCERIN, POLYSORBATE 60, AGAR, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, CALCIUM CASEINATE, SODIUM CASEINATE, XANTHAN GUM, SOY LECITHIN, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, LOCUST BEAN GUM, ENZYMES, TITANIUM DIOXIDE (COLOR), SUNFLOWER OIL, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR.

From USDA FoodData Central, label dated 2021-03-19. Labels change; check the package.

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